Target killings claim 490 lives in 6 months

KARACHI - The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Tuesday expressed grave concerns over deteriorating law and order in Karachi, particularly increasing target killings.
Statistics compiled by HRCP Karachi chapter show that a total of 1138 people were killed in the city during first six months of 2011, with 490 of them falling prey to targeted killings on different grounds including
political, sectarian and ethnic basis.
“Karachi has been under the influence of political parties for past several months and continuous surge in the killings in the city reflects government’s inefficiency to cope the mounting threat of insecurity,” said Zohra Yusuf, Chairperson HRCP while sharing statistics during the press briefing at their office.
For appeasing the ruling coalition partners, she noted, the government failed to take any decisive action against culprits, causing unrest in the city.
According to HRCP report, as many as 65 women were killed during first six months of this year - 24 of them were killed by relatives, 26 by unidentified culprits, four were set on fire, three killed on railway tracks, 2 each killed by robbers and Lyari gangsters, three on pretext of Karo-Kari and one killed by police. Separately, 37 men lost their lives in Lyari gang war this year.
Total 56 ethnic killings were reported this year with 51 of victims male, one female and four children.
Of the 490 victims of target killings, 150 were killed apparently for their association with various political, religious and nationalist parties, 56 for their ethnic background and eight on sectarian grounds.
The figure shows that 250 people with no political affiliation were also killed in Karachi this year while 139 killings were reported during the corresponding period of last year.
The report mentioned the names of parties (political, religious, nationalist and banned organizations) or groups and the number of their activists assassinated during the first six months of 2011. It said 77 target killing victims belonged to Muttahida Qaumi Movement; 26 to Pakistan People`s Party; 29 to Awami National Party; 16 to Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi; 7 to Sunni Tehreek; 9 to Jamaat-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat; two to Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam; one to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N); one to Jamaat-i-Islami (JI); one each to PML-Functional, Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz, and Punjabi-Pakhtun Ittehad and four to Sipah-e-Sahaba (banned).